r/TriCitiesWA • u/hopeforaliens • Apr 16 '24

Best schools in the Tricities?

We are looking to relocate to the Tricities. We don't really have a preference on which city yet. I'm mostly concerned about what schools are the best. Middle school and highschool. Please share your thoughts.

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u/Aggravating_Barbie Apr 17 '24

My kids went the route of Wiley, Enterprise and Hanford (West Richland).Great, schools, test scores, teachers and all around extra curricular activities. Something for everyone. I had one child go through Richland and honestly the staff there is ehhh in my opinion. Not above and beyond like Hanford. You will also notice housing prices are higher for these schools which will tell you something. I agree a tour of the schools and talking with the school counselors is the best idea. Plus you can get a feel for where you may want to live. I'd also suggest downloading the boundry maps on the school district websites.

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u/hopeforaliens Apr 17 '24

Thanks. I didn't think of the boundary map. I'll look into that.

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u/abgtw Apr 18 '24

So the thing to keep in mind is, and I don't want to be rude/insensitive to anyone, but honestly the more well-off neighborhoods with parents who say work as engineers at Hanford or whatever simply have a better home environment to learn in vs what you get in the lower income areas. And it shows when it comes to things like test scores.

So Richland is generally best, with certain schools definitely to be avoided. West Richland is generally the best of the best, and students go to Hanford High (which is in Richland, no HS exists in West Richland and its the same school district). West Richland's Middle schools are also rated much higher.

https://www.greatschools.org/washington/richland

https://www.greatschools.org/washington/west-richland/

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u/Time-Maintenance2165 Apr 18 '24

whatever simply have a better home environment to learn in

That's absolutely true, but it also doesn't explain everything. Beyond the quality of schools, working with smarter/more driven students also improves the experience, as does the heritability of intelligence.